Bauer extends Grazia brand to iPad

Bauer’s weekly women’s glossy Grazia is to launch paid-for iPad edition as the publisher steps up efforts to expand the digital footprint of its consumer titles.

GraziaCover
Publisher to launch paid-for iPad edition of its women’s weekly glossy magazine in a bid to bolster its multi-channel strategy.

The tablet edition will be published weekly from November and will include all editorial content from the print magazine as well as additional interactive adverts and video features.

It has been developed around a proposition of readers being able to “read, buy and share” content in each issue, says the publisher. The ‘Read’ element will see editorial content made more dynamic by interactive features such as video, while the ‘Shop’ aspect will allow readers to purchase clothing as well as other branded products directly from the app. The ‘Share’ element will allow users to seed content such as fashion tips and celebrity news stories on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

Abby Carvosso, managing director for Bauer Media’s lifestyle magazines, says the launch aims to build on the brand’s “unique understanding” of what “up-scale and intelligent women are thinking, doing and wanting”, which she claims drives footfall in-store for commercial partners and featured brands.

Carvosso points to the iPad’s ‘Shop’ feature as the edition’s unique selling point and adds: “We know our readers buy products recommended by Grazia and by giving them the ability to purchase directly from the edition they can act on impulse as soon as they something they like. Until now, we haven’t been able to capitalise on the influence we have in such an immediate way.”

The title will launch alongside Grazia’s London Fashion Week edition, its biggest issue to date as a result of advertiser demand.

Additionally, Bauer is running a Twitter campaign to coincide with the event, which aims to make it more accessible to people unable to attend any of the catwalk shows.

Grazia’s iPad app follows the launch of Bauer’s music magazine Q on the tablet device last month. Carvosso says that despite its increased investment in the tablet market, “digital is not the answer to solving falling print circulation”, adding that publishers need to build multi-channel strategies with print at its heart. Grazia’s print circulation for the six months to July 2012 dropped by 13.5 per cent year-on-year to 190,053, according to the latest ABC figures.

The publisher is also planning to ramp up investment in its “intelligent” men’s monthly Wonderpedia after finding that the title is resonating with families as well as its target group of 25 to 54 year-old males.

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